Durvin keeps the beat as he puts his bow away, then draws his blade as he climbs out of the rowboat.
Noro, gripping the giant crab's pincers in her hands forcing them from closing around her she struggles with all of her strength to rip the claw right off the beast.
With a pop and wet ripping sound Noro tears the clas off her crab, instantly sending it into unconscious shock.
To the party's right is a small path that leads into the jungle and toward the tall hill you rowed toward this morning. It was a cliff oceanside, but this side is much more manageable. It would undoubtably offer a great view of the whole island.
There is also a second path at the left that leads into less thick jungle with more grass-dominated ground flora.
"Perhaps we should head that way," Sarenth says as he gestures to the right. "Getting a view of this island might help give us a plan of attack for where to find water and where to locate Sandara. And the cook. It goes against papa's rule, though."
Reck scowls as the rush of victory fades and the reality sets in that this might not be the best time to build a campfire out of driftwood and have a crab feast. Missing crew and all that.
"Yer father 'ad rules, Skinny? Mine too. 'Don't piss me off or I'll beat ya till you can't see straight' was one o' 'is favorites. Also 'kill anyone that might be stronger than you someday'. Pretty good rules t'follow, if you ask me."
"Anyway, I say we circle around th' shore. Whereever th' crew ended up, there'll be prints t' track."
"Pretty simple ones, Grumpy. Like the one I mentioned earlier. You know, 'Left is right and right is wrong?' One of papa's sayings. He treated it like a rule. But looking for tracks sounds like the right idea."
Durvin listens to them both, pondering the options, before he beams with a glorious idea. "My new friend!" he exclaims, like it should answer the question for everyone. When he realizes they might not get what he means, he begins to explain. "I befriended one of the local seabirds, the osprey I've been feeding now and again. We've formed kind of a special bond. Maybe I can get him to look for signs of life, some clue from his bird's eye view."
He whistles and waves Sietel toward him, the bird responding as it always does to his call, swoops down to land near him and look for crumbs. He offers it a hunk of the crab meat, before talking to it. "Sietel, seek! Seek my friend." he pictures the goblin-things, Sandara, Ambrose, just people in general, as he tries to get what he wants across to the bird. "If he can fly around the island real quick, looking for any signs of inhabitants, that may tell us where to go."
"Never figured you for the 'parrot on your shoulder' type, Durvin. S'pose we all have to fit the part somehow, aye?"
Isabella replaces her sword and stretches a bit as she watches Durvin's feathered friend fly off. Her brow furrows for a moment as she spots other birds in the sky.
"He'll be back, won't he?"
Durvin corrects her, "He's not a parrot. He's an osprey, also known as a seahawk. Yeah, he'll come back. Like I said, we have a bond, like Sarenth and his little pet."
"Kinda wishing I had brought Skipper with me, now. Hope she's okay back there."
Sietel flaps off to the right and sends back feelings of familiarity. Think jungles blanket this portion of the island. Water is everywhere, but it's mostly stinky still-water and never-flow pools. There are man-things here too, but he isn't very specific. Rot and Bug-food are everywhere. He notices no men.
He enjoys swooping up the thermals from the hot air under the jungles up to the tall mountain where he spots no trouble. He wheels and skims the tops of the thermals on his way down as if bouncing from one pillow of air to another.
He swoops low over your heads and flaps to the south (left). Here he notices Man-food standing in rows. Many bugs buzz around food on sticks here. There is a man-house on a hill beyond the man-food. In the sea to the south he spots his prey and screeches in victory. They are in a ground-hole carved by the sea on the south-west corner of the island.
He beats his wings in a rush to return to his friend-master. Feelings of success and victory in the Hunt propel him on.
"So what's 'e say? Any sign, or do we just start t'walking?"
Durvin ponders for a bit like he's deep in thought, before he summarizes "It seems there's signs of a building to the south, and a cave to the south-west. The cave might be what we're looking for. But if we go to the building, people there may know where we can also find water, and it's roughly in the same direction. Which, Sarenth will be pleased to know, is left of here."
The trail leads through gradually thinning jungle into a kind of grassland. The trail weaves through here until, several hours later, you come upon overripe corn. The stalks average 7 feet high. Posted at irregular intervals are severed heads on stakes. All are decaying and putrid. Each also comes with a thick swarm of flies.
The trail leads through the corn.
"What do you think? Through the corn, or do we try to find a different way? Seems like somebody doesn't want us going inside."
Durvin looks at the field with worry, "A trail through overripe corn decorated with putrid displays? Yeah, I'll go around. Everything about that says we shouldn't go inside. Even if there were people inside, it's not like we could find them. I heavily vote for go around." His mouth is curled in disgust.
Sarenth - The field goes on for at least two miles to the left and right. You have no idea how far it extends away from you. It would add several hours if you were to walk around.
Durvin - The corn looks like it was tended at some point, but that stopped anywhere from a couple weeks to a month ago. The corn itself would have taken months to grow this tall, so something happened to the tender(s).
"Not much of a farmer m'self, but I can't see heads on stakes as good scarecrows nor fertilizer. I say we cut through."
Isabella draws her cutlass.
"And I mean that as un-figuratively as possible."
"Corn an' crabs, plenty o' food on this island. Let's get this over with."
Reck starts slashing his way through the corn.
Noro follows along
Durvin follows, but he doesn't like the looks of the things. He makes certain that he remains close to at least two of the others so no one goes missing within.
"I don't like the looks of this." Sarenth follows close behind, making sure to keep in sight of the others.
As you are hacking and slashing in a generally straight line through the tall corn, a vicious beast suddenly blasts from the ground. It sharp mandibles miss Sarenth's legs by mere inches.
This creature is an ankheg, a huge, burrowing insect with a dangerous bite and a tenacity matched only by its hunger. This result reveals all magical beast traits.
As well as its lethal bite with which it can latch on to its victims, an ankheg has a natural acidic venom which coats its mandibles and can be spit over short distances. Once an ankheg spits however, it takes a number of hours for it to build up its acid once more.
These natural tunnelers can see in most conditions, and have a extra sense that allows them to detect the slightest of movements through the earth.
What the... Noro curses in Varisian.
now we got bugsh to deal with?
Noro's intimate knowledge of Arcane things tells her that this creature is trouble, and is probably suseptable to being punched.
Noro leaps in defense of the wizard, as she tries to pound the creature back into the ground.
Noro's punch connects and the big bug squeals.
Sarenth reacts on instinct, trying to squash the oversized bug before his mind can even register what it is. "Ankheg! Watch the jaws!"
Durvin is startled to see a giant insect burst from the gound, with a quick "I told you so" he moves back to a safer distance and begins to sing.
I saw a girl, she reminded me of you
She did the things that a girl like you might do
Her body was green and she had two vicious jaws
She found her a mate as she kissed him with her claws
Yes but I survived, it was on the beach
She had six strong legs and it frightened me
She had insect eyes, but I could still see
That the looks she gave him, you give to me
"What th' f+~% is 'e singing?" ponders Reck aloud as he gets to beating on the strange creature in front of him.
spitting out bits of bug-thing, Reck barks out a laugh. "'E's not th' only one with a bite 'ere!"
"Never see bugs that big at sea, mate!"
Isabella whirls on the monstrous insect, slashing away at the softest-looking part she can find and aiming deep.
The fight is over almost before it begins. In a one-two-three combo, the beast is suddenly significantly less alive than it was just a few seconds ago.
"We've been lucky at sea. There are larger bugs that I've heard tell of. Sea scorpions and the like. We were lucky here, too. These things spit acid, and they can sense when you're walking past. Feel it through the ground, I expect. Let's get out of this corn. It's giving me the creeps."
When you finally emerge from the corn, the trail winds up the hillside. Several miles of twisting trail later you arrive at a stockade. The gate stands slightly open. A stream of fresh water gurgles softly nearby.
A well-built timber stockade surrounds a small lodge in a jungle clearing. Vines wrap and strangle a great tree that rises next to the lodge, blocking light from
above. Beside it is a bubbling spring.
Durvin takes in the little fort, looking at it's more virtuous qualities. For him, the most prominent one being the spyglass, "Oooh, neat, a spyglass. I love those, there is so much more to see with one on your eye up in the nest." He moves up to look through the thing in excitement, "Hey, this one is pointed at a cave with some of those goblin squids in it, and one of them is wearing... um, Sandara's hat." This last he says sheepishly as he is concerned about upsetting Sarenth.
"so someone's fond of spying on strange creatures in stolen headgear. shall we repossess the hat? Or bet on finding our mates elsewhere?"
"Since we're here, we should see if we can find any information or tools to help us defeat those things. After that, though, we should go get them back."
Noro takes notice of the direction the spyglass is pointed and tries to figure the best way to head there.
Letsh find our friendsh. Noro seems anxious to smash some octo-goblin heads.
As youall turn to depart, a few of the vines of the tree suddenly jump at Noro!
Four vines on all seek out Noro's neck, but the grappler manages to twist out of their grasp. Still they writhe, seeking her neck. Thorns and bark tear her skin as they attack.
Reck lets out a roar to alert his companions to the danger and engages the ambushers. Drawing his spear and summoning his magic as he moves, Reck hustles to get a clear shot at the attacking creatures and throws!
Reck's toss arcs perfectly through the boughs and strikes one of the creatures (red). It reels and screams.
Noro grips one of the creatures limbs tat attempted to grab her. and she gives it a rather hard tug to yank it from it's perch.
that really hurt, and now you pisshed me off